5/29/2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.’” (Revelation 10.10-11)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Complacency versus urgency. We ought to feel the pace of the Book of Revelation as we study our way through it. I suggested from the first that a purposeful reflection on this book should lead us to see the call to worship. As in the reflections on prophecy uttered by the Old Testament prophets are filled with awe-inspiring and sometimes terrifying visions concerning God’s presence in our midst, so we see the pattern continues in the New Testament. Even in the teachings of Jesus, which we would not be able to comprehend if there was no reading of the Old Testament, such calls to remembrance exist. Jesus is, of course, not a terrifying monster or mighty arm of God bearing a sword seated on a stomping stallion in the gospels. Nor was He intended to be such. Jesus Christ is one third of the Holy Trinity and thus provides a further reflection on the whole nature and character of God. This would suggest that God the Father has this side of Him as well. He is not that skewed vision of vengeance, hardline, judgmental, controlling God alone whom the “kinder and gentler nature” rejects. Of course they reject it. They do not want to be accountable or discerned to have erred grievously and thus disciplined. But, right there in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve fear God. Their spiritual eyes are awakened to see and their spiritual ears are opened to hear the “awesome” presence of God. They take stock of themselves and recognize they are not fitted appropriately as sinners to enter into a place of worshipping God. They are naked. Their personal feelings inform their corporate responsibility. They experience unworthiness and have no clue what to do about it but hide in a new accountability called “shame.” And what is their next exercise after hiding but blaming. The failure to accept responsibility for one’s own actions and confess it freely and resolutely to God is the true root of the problem. In the beginning there are basically two realities presented. They define the course of God’s actions and humanity’s history. Those two realities are: obedience and disobedience. Interestingly enough, “blaming and shaming” are the tools of the disobedient. Even today we see the truth of that reality. So what are the tools of the “obedient”? They would be prayer and praise; in other words- right worship.

While I do not look for affirmation as confirmation when it comes to the “Word of God” as I am shown it and then am called to reflect it to others in this venue, and elsewhere, as a “Good News Broadcast,” I do receive God’s confirmation as I find connection without seeking it in the reflections of others. It happened against today as I spent time in my daily devotion as a preparation for the day and for this writing. In Pastor Shawn Johnson’s book, “Attacking Anxiety,” he shares that “worship is a weapon because Satan hates it when we pray [and praise], when we worship like this because it figuratively and literally destroys him.” Our greatest tool against the enemy is our obedience in being Sabbath people. Care to gander at today’s world, starting with our own, and evaluate our citizenry in the Sabbath community? Some of us are old enough to remember the “Blue Laws” which limited retail Sunday activity. On the way to Glen Rose Park in Texas on a Saturday afternoon, we passed through Keene, Texas. It was originally a community built up by those who practiced the Sabbath community identity of Seventh-Day Adventists. A noticeable characteristic is that no work was done on Saturday. They took to heart the command, “Honor the Sabbath and keep it holy.” You wouldn’t expect to fill your tank with gas, stop for fast food refreshment or pick up your mail. Every time we drove through that small community and pass by its college, I would think to myself a serious thought. That thought said “If I were to honor God’s Sabbath and Resurrection Sunday together, then everything else I am supposed to do would have to happen in the five days left- Monday through Friday.” This was a radical idea which caused me to think about everything I did and would need to do on those days. So what happens now in our thinking as we consider the image presented in the Book of Revelation where the total sum of all our activity and identity is framed in “worship.” Our eternal resting place as promised to those who believe that Jesus is the Christ is busy with worshipping and praising and honoring God. On the other hand, our eternal unresting place as promised to those who do not believe that Jesus is the Christ is busy with weeping, wailing and the gnashing of teeth filled with blame, regret, remorse and unrelenting acknowledgment that service to one’s self was indeed an inescapable concept if left to its own demise. That would be a terrible place to be in. It would leave us with an insatiable and unquenchable burning of a spirit that could never be filled and never find completeness. Those who choose to live in that way then actually command God to send them by default to dwell there. The truth is already “out there.” It is not hidden. It is not disguised. It is not made pretty and fluffy and fanciful. So, why would we think that the harsh realities of life as seen through the lens of the Kingdom of God would be untrue, unrealistic and fearless. Our worship on earth includes lament and praise, sorrow and joy, sickness and health, bitterness and satisfaction, dark and light, war and peace, warning and affirmation. Jesus said to the woman at the well, “The day is coming when worship will not be in this place or that place but in spirit and in truth.” Worship is the bottom line of creation. Reading the psalms gives us that affirmation. Reading Ephesians 6, as we have reflected upon recently, affirms it as well as we are called “to put on the full armor of God.” In that “arming for life,” we are putting on the spiritual readiness for worshipping in this world in the presence of our enemies. We have work to do and are equipped to do it by God.

Look back to the story of Adam and Eve after their eyes and ears were opened to the truth as it was but as they had not experienced before. God equipped them to handle their shame and guilt. He clothed them sacrificially. He held them accountable for their actions of blame and faithlessness. He ordained them to “go into the world and essentially make disciples ready to be in conflict with the enemy with whom they had personal experience. They were entrusted with the truth and a promise of overcoming and victory. It could have been seen as a death sentence and filled with complacency and bitter surrender. But, what we know in that “after the fact,” is that the next generation had been taught that authentic life and living was connected in “worshipping God.” Life goes on and is determined by an alignment to this “in spirit and in truth.” Even the extension of God’s grace to Cain who killed his brother in a jealous rage speaks to the very nature of God’s love, care and compassion for the fallen. Cain, in his exile, was equipped and clothed for worship in “a safe community.” No one, not anyone, could bring harm or vengeneful action against Cain because he was marked by God as protected.

Mighty ones of God, we are marked in such a way and for such a purpose as this. God in His obedience to the rubric and paradigm of “love” calls us into such a communal understanding of life called “Sabbath.” It meant far more than just a day or a weekend. Sabbath was a way of life which happened 24/365.25. Sabbath is intending to still be the same today. If we have taken up our cross to follow Jesus, then we ought to be imagining His own chosen lifestyle which was Sabbatical. We interpret sabbatical as “time off” to get away from our work and to find our centering. That sounds more like a vacation, doesn’t it? Sabbatical was a cycle of life and living bound in remembering, honoring and worshipping God according to God’s plan. Our obedience to the task and opportunity to worship the Lord our God is then rightly understood by interpretation as our task and opportunity to serve the Lord our God. Fundamentally, our worship and our service is guided by the Greatest Commands of God to His people: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and love your neighbor as you yourself as the neighbor loved by God. As we reflect on the scripture presented today under the marker of “complacency versus urgency,” I would point out that John is directed to his appointed task on earth. It is all well and good to dine in heaven and feast upon the sights of the day and the future knowing “victory” is on the horizon. But, victory does not come without conflict and conflict speaks of the reality of discipline. Discipline, discipleship, is a vital part of our worship and our worship experience. It is intentional in its effect and how it affects others. It is the revelation of purpose and the truth which defines that purpose. We are called to our task on a daily basis as a Sabbatical community of faith. It is intended to define how and why we work in this world. It is not for ourselves but for others to the glory of God. It is bearing the truth of God’s nature and character made fully visible in Jesus Christ. It is also bearing the truth of the consequences to not bear that truth as in taking up our cross to follow Him and His teachings. That “getting away” or “taking time out” which seems to define our Sabbath (and notice we do not use the term sabbath in our faith language, hmmm) has fostered that sense of complaceny in our worship, our service and our actions of love for God and the neighbor. We have seemingly lost our sense of urgency to be faithful, faith-filled and faith-bound in this world. Our discipleship has become more casual and occasional than causal and frequent. So, what should our response be when the scroll of God’s Word is commanded to be our diet of choice?

[As a side note due to the import of Memorial Day as our national holiday in this country, let us take the time to remember those who lives were laid down for the sake of freedom and democracy in the world. It was never supposed to be about preserving America and become a centrist state. It was intended to protect the vital message of freedom and justice with liberty for all. Consider well how you will worship today in honoring them who have made it possible for you to have the freedoms you exert in your daily life. It can never be just about them!) Shalom and selah.

A PRAYER FOR TODAY:

You are our God and we shall be Your people in spirit and in truth. Continue to dwell among us. Let the revelation by Your Holy Spirit inspire us to greater service in a more refined identity. We do not live as ourselves for ourselves. Rather, we live in Christ as He lives in us. We declare it with all the elders and angels in Heaven, saying “Holy, holy, holy is He who was and is and is to come.” In Jesus’ name we live, serve and pray. AMEN.